In Matthew 28:19 God’s command, to the disciples and to us, makes it clear that we are all to be involved in the task of proclaiming and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
Mission and missionary are very evocative words. They can conjure up in our minds pictures of far-away lands, alien cultures and unattainable skill sets, and it can be easy to feel that we have no part to play in mission. So the challenge to us is to live lives in which we seek to advance the gospel at every opportunity. That does not mean that we will all become super-evangelists, but it does mean that we need to be ready and willing for God to work through us and to use all the gifts He has given to us for His glory in the saving and building up of His people.
Mission is a task that requires the active participation of the whole body of Christ. The preacher-evangelist needs to be there to declare God’s saving Word, but without the support of his admin staff he cannot appropriately concentrate on preparing his messages. Without the technical skills of his audio/visual team the clarity of the message would be compromised. Without the relationships of believers with their work colleagues and friends there might be no unbelievers brought to hear the saving message of Christ. The whole enterprise must be based on a strong foundation of prayer. Therefore, we all have a part to play in mission.
Mindful of the global need for the gospel, TCM has forged partnerships with a number of national and international mission partners. Paul’s letter to the Philippians identifies four strands of gospel partnership. These are:
- Partnership in purpose – wherever Christians operate, the task is the same: to see fellow believers built up and unbelievers evangelised by God’s gospel for His glory, regardless of any financial, geographic and cultural differences.
- Partnership in correspondence – knowing and understanding our different circumstances in the context of trusting in the one all-powerful, all-sufficient God is a great source of encouragement.
- Partnership in prayer.
- Partnership in giving.
Corporately, TCM exercises all of these strands with our partners. There are mission-focused prayer meetings, the annual reports from the church are shared with our partners, and there are a number of exchanges between our partners and TCM.
Currently, one tenth of the church’s unrestricted income is committed to supporting mission and is allocated annually at the discretion of the leadership. We always welcome other donations to our Missions Fund, and details of how to donate can be found here. Alternatively, when available, we provide links to our individual Mission Partners for further information and direct donations. Sadly, we are unable to collect money for named Mission Partners on this site.
In order to capitalise on the effectiveness of our small groups, house groups have been encouraged to develop working partnerships, based on these four strands of support, with our global mission partners.
If you can’t work out where you fit into the big mission jigsaw, then please contact us and we will be more than happy to help.
TCM formerly supports a number mission organisations and missionaries, including African Leadership, Christian Concern for Our Nation, Eurasian Ministries, Will McKinney, Hannah Jackson and others serving all over the world. Full details and updates from our mission partners are available from the admin team.